Algebralovr

We all get it, really!

Since you are from Minnesota, and it gets quite cold there fairly early, what about seeing if they will make the credit good through the end of the currently available bookings. Then, see if there is a cruise in Dec, Jan, Feb or March of 2015 that you cod enjoy and make payments on? Flying to FL isn't nearly as pricy as flying to HI! You could also see about the sailings out of NY, again since there are more choices in flights.

I know all about pulling kids out of school, but if your health is precarious, they are well worth it.

I made mine take all their winter finals early one year, because the prices on cruises the week before Christmas was a bargain and the week of Christmas was stupid expensive. The only thing planned at school that week was reviewing and final exams. If I had it to do again, I would still have pulled them out of school that week.

This doesn't happen in Britain, because if you tear up a contract in Britain you have to pay all reasonable foreseeable expenses incurred by the other party. So any cruise company that tried this game would have to reimburse you for all flights and other travel arrangements you'd already made.

 

Shame US law doesn't work that way. I'm sure there are many aspects of law better over there than over here, but on this matter the UK has it right. Take it up with your congressman.

Yes, it does happen in Britain, because you book the same cruises we do from the US! In fact there have been people from the UK complaining on these boards just as much as people from the US and elsewhere.

OP, the cruise line should reimburse you any expenses you have already incurred that are not refundable. Please contact your TA t make it happen.

Look for a coupon for Budget or Thrifty. We scored one for the day for under $32.

Just an FYI, if the price is posted on the site, and the price on the Hyatt site is more, you can call Hyatt and they will match the price being offered by a discounter. That way, you know you have the room.

We've done that trip twice. In both cases, we actually were off the ship before the expected time. We did one fort each trip.

Since you have the mobility issue, I recommend you grab a taxi to get up the hill. We walked, but both of us are in very good shape.

The forts have been open long enough that we had plenty of time to see all we wanted. They are national parks, so I recommend looking at them online to determine which one you wish to see. My mom and her husband actually saw both in one day, and they walked the whole way, but both get around very well. That was also on a cruise that wasn't supposed to dock until 3pm or so.

I believe the only thing that is touch and go about seeing is the Bacardi factory, since they stop tours at 4 or 4:30. The forts were open til 5 or so, and sometimes later. The last couple of years, they've been open late on Tuesdays, and even had a special program on Tuesdays!

I've been on one cruise on Celebrity where the weather was quite poor on a couple of back to back sea days. The hotel director ordered the entertainment staff to show movies a couple of times a day in the main theatre on top of the movies in Celebrity Central.

The best reason to watch the movies in Celebrity Central rather than the stateroom is refreshments....particularly when we have a beverage package.

Don't plan on being allowed to change from the free Classic to a Premium Non-alcohol. It has been asked over and over, and always 'no' was the answer.

If she wants drinks that are not available, she will need to either pay as she goes, or buy the upgrade.

We participated in a tour arranged with Beulah a couple of years ago. We had York as our driver, as older man. He loved his island and could tell you all about it! If we can ever get back, we plan to look him up again.

If you are eligible for membership at USAA, and can get a MC or Visa through them, it is a simple matter to uograde to a chip-and-pin card through them.

My only gripe about that new card is that I'm struggling to memorize a new pin and there is no way to change it!

We stayed at that exact hotel the last two cruises out of Florida. We liked the hotel and the neighborhood was just fine as well.

The hotel is right next door to a shopping center, including a Target, B&N booksellers, Publix, etc. I'm actually going to miss it this year, since we are staying at the other one this year.

Based on what you'll spend on a cab, you might look for a rental car instead. There is free parking at the hotel, and that will give you the freedom to go where you want.

Sorry, NCL... Not Royal.

Most of the time, similar cruises leaving from FL and going to the Caribbean run very similarly priced no matter which if the mass market lines you are sailing on.

I wish you luck getting what you want. If the travel agent wont go for money back, perhaps you might ask the travel agency for a perk for a future cruise booked through them, if you want to take a non-charter cruise? They might be willing to give you either a discount or some OBC on a future cruise. You could then take a trip at a time and place good for you.

With 20 of you, I would head back to the ship for an impromptu party at e pool. There won't be a lot of people on the ship, and you can enjoy the pool area for free.

Depending on when you are getting married, you might also look into a group excursion. If everyone likes to snorkel, for example, you might charter a catamaran for a couple of hours and snorkel or enjoy the sun. Just don't be late back to the ship!

It looks like there were a number if other performers on the cruise, not just this one. I also see that his people are offering not just a concert ticket, but also a backstage pass and a chance to meet the performer.

Yes, the prices are a little higher than the average cruise on a Royal ship, but I know of a few others that are similarly priced group cruises. I'm looking at one that is about $450 per person higher than just the cruise the weeks before and after for next year. It is a group of people I want to cruise with, though, so I'm willing to pay it.

I do believe you are being unreasonable in asking for a partial refund. You attended or had the opportunity to attend performances by other singers.

Maybe you might ask for a second ticket, since you need one for a partner to attend the make-up concert, but I wouldn't expect a cash refund. If you do get a refund, I wouldn't expect more than $75 per person, and that instead of the concert ticket once he returns to performing.

We are visiting st marten which requires 6 months expiration on a passport, my husbands passport expires in 5 months. Princess said he would be ok with a birth certificate and driver id, but we are going to expedite a passport just in case.

That is only if flying to St Marten. If you are on a closed-loop cruise out of the US,no passport is needed, so 5-months until expiration is not a problem.

I would save your $$ and use the one he has that will still be valid, unless he will need it for some other reason. Also, there is no need to expedite if you send it off soon, since April is more than 2 months away. Renewals have been running less than a month lately.

We have just returned from a Trans Atlantic crosssing from Barcelona to Fort Lauderdale. Our travel agent made a mistake on our plane tickets that cost us money to fix, it almost cost us our flights and she lied about it. She blamed the airline. We didn't find out she was to blame until after we returned. While on board we booked another cruise for this fall and had the reservation transferred to our travel agent. Had we realized what she had done we would have kept the reservation with Celebrity and not used her agent again. Here are a few things I have learned. Once you give your travel agent a reservation you can not just take it back. The agent has to release it back to the cruise line, you cannot book your own Choice Air or hotel reservations because the agent has the reservation. Everything has to be done through the agent. .

With this information, I hope your TA made good on the flights and reimbursed your out if pocket expenses. Your don't say whether this is an independent agent or one with a larger agency. If a larger agency, you might go over the agent's head and ask for restitution if the TA has been unresponsive.

You might also look into small claims court to re-coup your out of pocket expenses. I'm not a fan of going to court for every little thing, but if the out of pocket expenses were substantial, it might be worth it.

If you are really unhappy with the TA and the TA has not provided services for this particular cruise, I would still ask the TA to release the cruise back to Celebrity, and possibly even tell them that after the last experience you just do not have confidence in them, and good luck with other clients, if it won't lose much by canceling and re-booking directly with X, that is certinally an option, if you choose litigation over expenses due to the problems for the last cruis, I'm not sure why the TA would want to keep your cruise! I also wonder if you could force them to release the cruise if there were litigation involved due to negligence on the part of the TA.

How old are the kids?

I got them for mine. I thought it made it easier to get through customs. I've seen them look more closely at DL/BC but when you have a passport they just glance and waive you through.

Mine had 1 youth passport, then turned old enough for adult ones. Those passports have made life very easy in other ways. When they were old enough for driving permits, the passport was enough proof to get one. When they got their first jobs, the passport is all they need to fill out the I-9 form.

I agree it is expensive, but they come in very handy.

I would get them for you and DH no matter what, since I've found a few bargains that I needed one for, and could go because I owned a passport.

While the cruise lines will not allow teens that age to book on their own, they will often allow you to book two rooms in close proximity, next door, across the hall, etc. If there is a Senior discount, it would make sense to book girls in one, us in the other. If no senior discount available, I would just book you and DH into one room and the teens into the other. Just don't try to book online, book over the phone or with a TA.

I would look to either NCL or RCI. The kids would like the climbing wall, skating rink, Blue Man Group, etc.

I'm the parent of a 18-yr old boy and a nearly 20-yr old girls. I make them share a room on vacation. They work it out. We've even had one or both of the bring a friend, and again, they share rooms. They work it out.

Shorts are fine in the buffet, in the Bistro on 5, etc. no shorts in the MDR in the evening, but I've seen plenty of nicer shorts in the MDR at lunch or breakfast.

You can always give it as an extra tip to the people who take care of you, on top of your auto-gratuties. I'm sure those folks won't mind that it is a foreign currency.

Otherwise, save it for your next trip, or give it to a friend heading overseas.

According to the website, personal checks are no longer accepted on board. They accept most forms of credit cards and debit cards, as well as cash and travelers checks.

I would recommend you make sure you have a debit card you can use to get cash should you need it. There should be at least one ATM, although it has a fee associated with using it.

There are very few of them. There was a thread last year and a number of comments by BruceMuzz hinted that profits on the west coast cruises were very low.

I was also on the Solstice repositioning cruise from Ensenada to Seattle, and would do it again in a heartbeat, in spite of the trip from San Diego to Ensenada. Celebrity decided not to schedule it this coming spring, and is going from Hawaii to British Columbia without the Ensenada stop, so removing that trip. No telling what they will decide to do for 2015. In order to fill the rooms, they dropped the price way down, and even ended up contracting with a large online TA to try to fill them. Then there were a number of issues with the larger ship in the ports, etc. DH and I enjoyed it, though.

Glad it worked out, and glad to know about Delta Dash!

I wish I had known about Delta Dash 18 months ago, when one of my student tenants called me is a panics she had left her passport in Mo and was already in Atlanta, on her way to Miami, and was supposed to depart the next day. At least it was the day before! The only thing I could think of at the time was to ship it FED-EX early AM to the hotel they were staying in the night before. One of her friends ended up taking care of it, but it was stressful for her!

Please also call Celebrity and make sure they will let you board. They should, but they need to know you are coming.

When we sailed on Eclipse, we saw a note in the steward's closet reminding him to check for them.

Celebrity does not have a rule like 20 or more kids to open. We went and checked it out when we boarded Reflection last year, they were expecting 5 children on board and still had 3 kids club staff on board.

They did have plans for how they were using their time if no kids showed up, since they were expecting almost 200 the next week (winter break time).